Student restoration project gets boost from Lodi grower

ACAMPO - Biology students from Middle College High School in Stockton last week built bird nesting boxes as part of a habitat restoration project along the Mokelumne River.

Reed Fujii

ACAMPO - Biology students from Middle College High School in Stockton last week built bird nesting boxes as part of a habitat restoration project along the Mokelumne River.

It's a program that nearly fell victim to state budget cuts, as have so many others, but was maintained when Vino Farms Inc., where the restoration work is being conducted, decided to pay the tab.

"We can't take students out unless we have the funding," said Shana Welles, regional coordinator for the nonprofit Center for Land-Based Learning.

Each field day costs about $3,500, and the winegrape growing company is funding two events.

"Without Vino Farms stepping up to do the funding, they would only have gotten to do one," Welles said of the class.

The Lodi company, which oversees vineyards in the Lodi area and Napa Valley, has been working for several years to restore about 22 acres of its land along the river, planting and nurturing California native plant species after removing an overgrown tangle of non-native flora, said Craig Ledbetter, a Vino Farms partner.

An original project proposal from River Partners of Chico included bringing high school students to help with the work.

"Once we knew there was going to be a program with young adults trying to learn more about restoration and agricultural in general, we said this is something we want to be involved in," Ledbetter said.

Participation of the students from Middle College High, a Lodi Unified school on the San Joaquin Delta College campus, was supported by a state habitat restoration grant. But that was cut off when the state budget crisis led to a freeze on funding under Proposition 50 - a water quality and environmental protection measure approved by voters in 2002.

"When we found out their funding was going to be cut, we thought it was important they be able to finish out the year," Ledbetter said.

While the students are directly responsible for restoration of about a half-acre portion of the project, they help monitor and contribute to the overall work. For example, the nesting boxes will be used throughout the 22 acres, Ledbetter said.

"It's a good program for young adults to learn about what's going on in agriculture," he said.

That's part of the program's intent, Welles said.

"A large part is allowing students to have a hands-on experience with soil and plants and to develop a connection with the environment that a lot of them don't have growing up in inner-city Stockton," she said.

Adult mentors working in agriculture, resource management, habitat restoration and ecology also bring important lessons to the teens, Welles said.

"Hopefully in the future, we will have strong leaders coming out of universities that have an interest and background in those fields," she said.